Our April Reads (2018)

April flew by before we could blink. As we’re beginning to wind down our learning year in the next few weeks, we’re looking forward to a little downtime which we will gladly fill with a hefty stack of reading material. This has been a fun month of reading, learning, and increasing in wisdom. April’s list has a few new books to hit the market, picture books, and others which added to our learning fun. As usual, all of our reads were an adventure!

We’ve broken down the list into categories and included our personal rating from zero to five stars. To read more about a particular book, simply click the title!

Picture Books:

Don’t Ever Look Behind Door 32 (B.C.R.Fegan) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐- The magical Hotel of Hoo is a mysterious place with some very unusual occupants. As our guests explore the strange hotel, they are invited to experience everything it has to offer with just one warning… don’t ever look behind door 32.

Unplugged (Steve Antony) ⭐⭐⭐⭐- Meet Blip. Blip loves being plugged into her computer. When a blackout occurs, Blip trips over her wire and tumbles outside.
Suddenly, Blip’s gray world is filled with color and excitement. She plays with her new friends and has adventures all day long. When Blip finally returns home, she realizes that the world can be even brighter once you unplug.

Learning Resources:

Thrifty Guide to Time Travel… (Jonathan Stokes) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐- The only guidebook you need for your next time travel vacation! The Thrifty Guides are a snappy, informative travel guide containing information vital to the sensible time traveler.

Nature Anatomy (Julia Rothman) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐- Acclaimed illustrator Julia Rothman celebrates the diverse curiosities and beauty of the natural world in this exciting new volume. With whimsically hip illustrations, every page is an extraordinary look at all kinds of subjects, from mineral formation and the inside of a volcano to what makes sunsets, monarch butterfly migration, the ecosystem of a rotting log, the parts of a bird, the anatomy of a jellyfish, and much, much more.

The Secret of the Hidden Scrolls: The Great Escape (M.J. Thomas) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐- In The Great Escape, Peter, Mary, and Hank journey to the pyramid-studded desert of ancient Egypt. When the trio become friends with Pharaoh’s daughter, they witness first-hand as Moses petitions Pharaoh for the Israelites’ freedom. Plagues wreak havoc as the group races to decode the scroll, gets chased by a panther, and battles Pharaoh’s cunning advisor, the Great Magician. Young readers will anxiously follow along as Peter and Mary’s thrilling adventures bring the biblical story of Exodus to life.

Keeping Faith in an Age of Reason (Jason Lisle) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – A popular list of 439 alleged Bible contradictions has been circulating on the Internet for years. Many critics refer to this list as the definitive proof that the Bible is flawed. But apparently none of them bothered to actually check. Interestingly, not one of these 439 claims is a genuine contradiction. This shows that critics generally do not perform careful scholarship.

Books for Fun:

Ready Player One(Ernest Cline) ⭐⭐- In the year 2045, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he’s jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS. Wade’s devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world’s digital confines, puzzles that are based on their creator’s obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them. When Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself beset by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize.

How are we rating these reads? Good question! If the book has a five, whether learning or for fun, it’s clean and we want it on our bookshelf permanently. Four stars are sorely tempting us, but as our local library carries them we’re in luck. Three stars are worth a look, but we don’t see ourselves reading them too often. Two stars were entertaining, but once was enough. One star was acceptable. And zero. Well, it’s zero.

What to be on the lookout for… Don’t Ever Look Behind Door 32is everything charming! Parents should be advised there are a lot of fantastical creatures in this book – which we LOVE – but we understand not all parents wish to explore fantasy or fairy tales with their children. We absolutely adore this new read and share it with every little person who comes over to visit. Several of our learning resources have been read previously, but they are so good we revisit them on a continual basis. Clicking their titles will take you directly to reviews. Each is a title our family owns and highly recommends. Ready Player One… I’ll be honest. I truly enjoyed this book and didn’t think I would. However it does have language in it which means passing it off to my kids won’t be happening any time soon; which saddens me as everything else about this book is classic. I’m an eighties kid and this book spoke to my childhood. Unfortunately, as is generally the case, the movie is hideous in comparison. What a shame.

As we wind down our year, we’re noticing learning resource books have lessened. That seems a shame. Be assured this will not remain true for long! Our local summer reading program is just around the corner – and that always means a ton of good reads – and we’ll be gearing up for another year of homeschool adventures in just a short month. Join us again during the month of May as we explore a world of literature and the adventure of reading. What will we read next?